Wrestling federation warned by IOC

Wrestling's bid to be reinstated as an Olympic sport in the 2020 Games has suffered a setback after its international federation received a reprimand for breaching rules.

The sport is vying with squash and baseball/softball to be included in the Games after being dropped by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board earlier this year.

Wrestling is the front-runner for the IOC vote in Buenos Aires tomorrow, but its cause will not have been helped by the warning from the IOC’s ethics commission.

A letter from the IOC was sent on Tuesday to all three sports’ international federations stating: “It was recently brought to our attention that the (wrestling federation) and an organisation supporting them engaged in activities that were not in line with the ‘Rules of Conduct for the International Federations seeking inclusion in the Olympic Programme’.

“An official warning was sent to the international federation on Friday, 30 August. The matter is now considered as closed.”